The Telephone in the Cinema: From Vocal Transmission to Audiovisual Inventions - Text 6
Although cinema studies has been enriched by the contributions of media archaeology,[4] we should illuminate the history of cinema by studying the various audio-vision machines scattered throughout its existence which did not limit themselves to be being “depicted” in films; rather, they shaped their materiality and our imaginations alike. What today we call a “telephone” is also the descendant of both Alexander Graham Bell’s earliest “vibraphones” and the lightweight movie camera. Camera, pocket mirror, microphone, voice-mail box, screen for consulting audiovisual content, video conference tool, video game console and a place to store private memories, the telephone today has not yet finished transforming what is no longer called the “cinematograph” (a device) but rather “cinema” (a medium and a mass media).
